Whilst most of the Lardies gathered around one arm of the huge L-shaped table, Elton and I faced off against Zippee, Gerard and Edward's diversionary assault at the far, far end of the other arm. Elton and I had a platoon of infantry apiece, supported by one MMG, one 47mm gun and a light mortar; the Brits seemed to be about a company's worth of infantry.
The British advanced quickly under Blinds, but were soon spotted and brought under fire from both Italian positions, with the MMGs and 47mm guns being particularly effective. The light mortars accompanying the British platoons laid down some smoke, but this was more of an annoyance to the Italians than anything very effective.
The British platoon advancing up the far end of the table, opposite Elton's position, was gradually obliterated, as was one of the platoons advancing towards my more central position. The other British platoon, and the company HQ, made it to the lee of the hill on which my trenches were placed, but then found they couldn't really go any further.
At this point the British remembered about their off-table artillery support: four 3" mortars. Unfortunately by now we had managed to kill all but one of their Big Men, so getting the artillery ordered up and on target proved to be a frustratingly long process. Eventually one round of mortar fire did drop on my position, causing a few casualties, but by that time the Italian perimeter had been breached elsewhere and the game ended.
We had managed to take out a company of Brits (including five Big Men!) for the loss of only eight men, so had won a tactical victory...but strategically the Brits had tied up both our platoons, preventing them from reinforcing our comrades at the schwerepunkt on the other tables.
Robert Avery